Conflicting Concepts: Linguistics, Ideologies and Geopolitics in Pan-National Movements in Eurasia

Conflicting Concepts: Linguistics, Ideologies and Geopolitics in Pan-National Movements in Eurasia

Organizer
Herder Institute for Historical research on East Central Europe; Aleksanteri Institute, University of Helsinki; Hokkaido University
Venue
Aleksanteri Institute, University of Helsinki, Unioninkatu 33, 2nd floor meeting room
Location
Helsinki
Country
Finland
From - Until
12.11.2018 - 13.11.2018
By
Eszter Gantner

The concept of linguistic kinship transgresses the limits of linguistic inquiry. It has been interpreted as a manifestation of a special bond between cultures and nations. The idea that the speakers of the so-called Finno-Ugric languages, for instance, should form a closer community, shaped national ideologies in Finland, Estonia, and Hungary in the 19th century. These ideas turned into radical political ambitions after the collapse of the Russian and Hapsburg empires. In Finland and Estonia the idea strengthened the formation of national identity, while in Hungary political elites and intellectuals turned even further, to the idea of Turanism, which included Turkic, Altaic, and even Korean and Japanese-speaking peoples. Until the end of the Second World War, the Finno-Ugric kinship informed and mobilized nationalist, and even fascist political, economic, military, and intellectual elites of three European states.

This two-day interdisciplinary workshop gathers experts on linguistics, history, philosophy, and literature to explore the conceptualizations of linguistic kinship and its uses in pan-nationalist movements in modern Eurasian history. The workshop will discuss concurrences, diversities, and interactions between the various “pan-movements” which emerged in the 19th and 20th centuries.
The workshop will be carried out in cooperation with the Herder Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe (LOEWE-Project, Marburg, Germany), the Hokkaido University Slavic-Eurasian Research Center, (Hokkaido, Japan), the Hokkaido University European Office in Helsinki, and the Aleksanteri Institute at the University of Helsinki.

Organized by Eszter Gantner, Takehiro Okabe, Sanna Turoma

Programm

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 12th
12:45-1:00 pm
1:00-1:30 pm
WELCOMING WORDS: Sanna Turoma
OPENING WORDS: Eszter Gantner and Takehiro Okabe
IMPULSE LECTURE Juha Janhunen: On Turanism
1:30-2:00 pm Discussion

2:15-3:45 pm PANEL I: POLITICAL VISIONS AND GEOGRAPHIES
Moderator: TBA
Vesa Oittinen: The nation and the world spirit in Hegel and Snellman
Sanna Turoma: Zacharias Topelius on the Finns’ Civilizing Mission in Eurasian Space
Eszter Gantner: Turanism as a political vision?: Hungary‘s Place Making Between 1918-1933

4:00-4.30 pm IMPULSE LECTURE
Aleksander Semyonov: Current Trends in historical writing on empire: persistence vs. transformation; practices of rule vs. imperial visions
4:30-5:00 pm Discussion
5:00-6:30 pm PANEL II: CONFLICTING IDEOLOGIES
Moderator: Peter Holquist
Tomohiko Uyama: What promotes and hinders solidarity of kindered peoples?: Kazakh attitudes towards other Turkic Muslims in the Late Russian and Early Soviet periods
Nadya Trach: Notion of Bilingualism in the Discourses of Contemporary Ukraine: Conflicting Meanings
Geoffrey Roberts: The Postwar Communist Peace Movement as a Transnational Social Movement

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13th
9:00-9:30 am IMPULSE LECTURE
Moderator: Alexander Semyonov
Jeremy Smith: Nationality and Power in the Soviet Union
9:30-10:00 am Discussion
10:00-11:30 am PANEL III: PAN-FENNISM IN PRACTICE
Moderator: Sanna Turoma
Markku Kangaspuro: Rise and Fall of Soviet Pan-Fennism in 1920-1930
Takehiro Okabe: Soviet Finno-Ugric Studies and Pan-Finnic Idea from 1920s to 1950s

1:00-2:30 pm PANEL IV: BEYOND LINGUISTIC CONCEPT: A FINNO-UGRIC CASE
Moderator: Katalin Miklossy
Timo Salminen: Finnish scholars in the East: Building a Finno-Ugric community?
Anssi Halmesvirta: Finno-Ugric Pan-Movement c. 1920-1945
Lukasz Sommer: Linguistic kinship without linguistics: The Finno-Ugric Congresses 1920-1936

3:00-4:00 pm WRAP UP AND CLOSING DISCUSSION

Contact (announcement)

Eszter Gantner

Herder-Institut für historische Ostmitteleuropaforschung
Gisonenweg 5-7, 35037 Marburg

eszter.gantner@herder-institut.de

https://www.herder-institut.de/go/bmh-41fdf
Editors Information
Published on
04.11.2018
Classification
Regional Classification
Additional Informations
Country Event
Language(s) of event
English
Language of announcement